Too Much Hamlet
This version of Shakespeare's HAMLET was superbly directed and edited. In order to keep a cohesive story for 242 minutes (4 hours), direction and editing must be done by masters! However, four hours of Hamlet is a bit too much Hamlet for today's attention span of audiences—particularly if in the audience there is a high school student, for whom I ordered the DVD. The sets are lavish, the costumes are rich, and the time and setting were conveniently updated; that all works in favor of the film. I'm not too sure about the choice of some cast members, but the ensemble works in the end. It is my impression, judging from my godchild's viewing experience (and my own, even), that the subtitles have to be ON all the time. We resorted to subtitles mostly because the dialogs are so heavy (true to the original) as well as because the nature of the accents. I do not find this to be the situation with Zeffirelli's HAMLET with M. Gibson and G. Close, which is understandable to American ears most of the time. If for no other reason, it's a good DVD to have in one's collection for comparison purposes and to justify making popcorn to last for hours and hours.
Bestätigter Kauf: JaArtikelzustand: Gebraucht